Canning-machine



T 0 all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE."-

REUBEN ERICH, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

CANNING- MACH INE.

Be it known that I, REUBEN ERIoH, a citizen of the United States,'-and resident 'of San Jose, in. the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCanning-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates primarily to a machine for use in canning soft pulpy material in large tins.

In the fruit canning industry a somewhat large proportion of the fruit such as apricots, peaches, etc., is reduced'to a pulpy mass not suitable for'canning in small tins The material in this form is commonly known as pie and is put up in large containers,

usually gallon tin cans. In canning pie in accordance with present practice it is fed into a hopper from a cooker and then the individual cans are filled from the hopper by means of an ordinary sliding gate. This method is not only unsanitary and wasteful but in a very large percentage of cases the material is deposited inthe can in such a manner as to trap a large quantity of steam therein. The result of this procedure is that when thecan. is capped and allowed to cool the consequent reduction of the steam to water so far reduces the internal pressure of;the can that it'collapses and must be dis-' carded and some Oran of its contents lost; This loss, of cans through collapsing :is especially largein the branch of the canning industry referredito because gallon cans are used almost to the entire excluslonof other sizes, and sincethese cans aremade of'the same welght of tin as the smaller cans their less able to resist an excess either side.

increased size renders them proportionately of pressure on "Itis the object of'my invention to provide a machine for canning material of the character indicatedwhich will be sanitary, positive in action, simple in construction and operation, which will eliminate waste of material during canning thereof, and which will reducethe loss of cans through trapping of excess steam therein to a minimum.

In'the drawings y i Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved canning machine, partly in section.

Fig. 2"is a view on line 22 of Fig. 1,

part broken away.

Referring more particularly to the draw- Specification f Lettersi'htent- Patented Sept. 2O,v 1921. Application filedlebruary 1, 1921. Serial No. 441,648. I

mg, I show at 1 a hopper supported in any suitable manner not shown over a table 2 and haVlIlg a cylindrical chamber 3' arranged therein. Chamber 3 is closed at the top, has a diameter of substantially the same size as the cans'to be filled, and is open at the bottom as indicated at '4'. Chamber 3 also has a plurality of openings as 5 formed in its side walls and at its lower end :and;

ed in plunger 6 are, in the present case, two

tubes 8-8, the said tubes passing through the head of plunger 6 and communicating with the interior of chamber 3. These tubes arepreferably made of the proper size to occupy a space in the can when extended thereinto as shown of substantially the same cubic dimensions as the space between the head of the plunger 6- and the discharge opening 4.v

The plunger 6 and. tubes 8 are'moved in opposite directions by. one movement of the hand leverin the following manner.

A hand lever 9 is mounted on a shaft 10 mounted to revolve in suitable bearings 11- 12 in the hopper 1 and chamber. 3 respectively. On shaft 10 is arranged an arm 13 pivotally connected .toa link 21 which is in turnpivotally connected to a lever 22 pivotally .mounted on the inner wall of chamber 3 as at 23 and engaging a pin'24 on bar '25 joining the tubes 8 through the medium of slot 26. When handle 9 is moved into the position 9' these several parts take the positions indicatedin dotted lines thereby withdrawing tubes 8 into chamber 3 as shown.

' Since the can to be" filled must be raised into a filling position and again lowered fromsaid position after filling the following mechanism is provided for effecting said movements in proper relation to the movements of the plunger and tubes. An

arm 27 is mounted on shaft 10 outside of chamber 3, and a link 28 is pivotally con nected thereto as at 29 and to end 30 of a bell-crank 31, the said bell-crank being mounted on a support 32. The other end 33 of bell-crank 31 is provided with a slot 34 engaging a pin 35 on a rod 36 movable horizontally in bearings 37. Bearings 37 however, are arranged in different horizontal planes and the intermediate portion of rod 36 is provided with a cam slot 38. In cam slot 38 is arranged a pin 39 mounted on a said rod 40 being positioned in axial aline-r rod 40 movable'vertically in bearing41 and carrying a plate 42 to receive the cans, the

ment with the chamber 3 and rod'18. When handle 9 is moved to the position 9 these several parts are actuated to the positions indicated in dotted lines thereby lowering the plate 42 and the filled can thereon, the can of course now being removed and re placed with an empty can.

An upward movement of handle 9 to its original position simultaneously operates the several mechanisms back to the positions shown in solid lines thereby permitting materialrtoflow from the hopper 1 through openings5 and opening 4 into the can 43,

. movements'of the plunger 6 and tubes 8 in opposite directions because the space vacated by the tubes 8 is just sufficient to receive the additional material advanced into the can by plunger 6. The. steam in chamber 3 is discharged into theatmosphere through discharge pipe: 44.- r I i From the foregoing description itwmay that is positive in operation, clean. and samform of the cam slot is, of course, such that r of the plunger and tubes.

tary, and economical to manufacturer The the raising and lowering of the can will take place 1n proper relation to the movements 7 It is to be understood that while I have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention it is to be considered as illustrative only and in no way to ,limit' the scope of the appended claims.

having a discharge opening formed therein, means for supporting a can in operative relationto said opening, a chamber arranged above said opening and provided, with a passage to said hopper, a plunger oper-- atively mounted in said chamber to open and close said passage, an element'mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and extend into a can positioned therebelow, and means for operating said plunger and element in oppositedirections. p

2. A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening formed therein,

'means for'supporting a can in operative re lation to said opening, a chamber arranged abovesaid opening and provided with a passage to said hopper, a plunger operatively mounted in said chamber to open and close said passage and discharge opening, an eles ment mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and extend into a can positioned therebelow, and means for operating said plunger and element in opposite directions. ,7

3. A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening formed therein, means for supporting a can in operative relatlon to said opening, a chamber arranged abovesaidopening and provided with a passage to said hopper, a plunger operat 4. A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening formed therein, means for supporting a can inoperative relation to said opening, a chamber arranged above said opening and provided with a passage to said hopper, a plunger operatively mounted in said chamber to open anddclose said passage, an elementmounted to reciprocate through said plunger and extend into a can positioned therebelow,-and means for operating said plunger and rod inopposite directions, :said chamber being provided with discharge to theatmosphere.

readily be seen that I have provided a machine that is quickly and easily operated,

5. A canning machine including a having a discharge opening in. thebottom thereof, means for supporting a can;in-operative relation to said opening, a chamber arranged over said opening and communieating therewith and provided with a passage to said hopper at its lower end, a plunger operatively mounted in saidchamber to open and close said passage, oneorvmore elements mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and opening and occupying a space below said plunger when extended substantially equal to the displacement efl'ected'by said hopper plunger, and means for operating :said

plunger and element or elements in opposite.

directions whereby said element or elements are alternately withdrawn to said opening or extended therethrough. I

6. A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening in the bottom thereof, means for supporting a can in operative relation to said opening, a chamber arranged over said opening and communicating therewith and provided with a passage to said hopper at its lowerend, a plunger operatively mounted in said chamber to open and close said passage, one or more elements mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and opening, a rod attached to said plunger, a shaft revolubly mounted in angular relation to said rod, a pair of arms mounted on said shaft, a link connected to each arm, a lever mounted on the wall of said chamber adjacent to each link and connected thereto, one of said levers being connected to the plunger and the other to said element or elements whereby the rotation of said shaft will actuate said plunger and element or elements a predetermined distance in opposite directions. I

7 A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening formed therein, means for supporting a can in operative relation to said opening, a chamber arranged above said opening and provided with passage to said hopper, a plunger operatively mounted in said chamber to open and close said passage, an element mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and extend into a can positioned therebelow, and means for operating said plunger and can supporting means in one direction and said element in the opposite direction.

8. A canning machine including a hopper having a discharge opening formed therein, means for supporting a can in operative relation to said opening, a chamber arranged above said opening and provided with a passage to said hopper, a plunger operatively mounted in said chamber to open and close said passage, an element mounted to reciprocate through said plunger and extend into a can positioned therebelow, and means for operating said plunger and element in opposite directions and said can.

supporting means in the same direction as said plunger but in advance of its upward movement and subsequently to its downward movement.

REUBEN R. ERICH. 

